SC dog sniffs out abusive babysitter

When a normally playful pup turned aggressive, a South Carolina couple became suspicious of their new babysitter.

After moving to Charleston last year, Benjamin and Hope Jordan needed to find a babysitter for their then 7-month-old son Finn.

It didn’t take long for the couple to find someone.

They hired 21-year-old Alexis Kahn for the job, who came up clean in a background check.

However, their confidence in Kahn didn’t last too long.

“About five months into her being our babysitter, we started to notice that our dog was very defensive of our son when she would come in the door. He was very aggressive towards her and a few times we actually had to physically restrain our dog from going towards her,” the parents say.

The now-suspicious parents had a plan.

Hope suggested they place an iPhone under the couch and let the phone record what happens while they were at work.

When the couple got home, they listened to the tape and were horrified about what they heard.

Charleston police arrested Kahn a few weeks later, and she confessed to the crime.

She pleaded guilty to assault and battery. The sentence is 1 to 3 years in prison.

As part of her plea, Kahn also will be placed on a child abuse registry, which means she is not allowed to work with children.

“That is fantastic news to us. To know that maybe Finn’s ordeal has possibly saved another child’s life in the future.”

“Had our dog not alerted us to the trouble, had my wife’s instincts not said we need to make something happen, it could have been Finn that was killed by the babysitter. You never know,” says Benjamin.

Khan will be eligible for parole after serving one year of her sentence.

The Jordans say their son is doing fine and has no lingering effects from the abuse.